Sustainable intensification of cereal-based farming systems in Eastern and Southern Africa

Project Inception Workshop

6-9 February 2012, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

WORKING GROUPS ON THE PROPOSED PROJECT

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Rice-Veg group - merged

Geo location will probably change

Purpose
Improve livelihoods by enhancing the productivity and competitiveness of rice-based systems of inland valley lowlands through sustainable intensification [...bits removed...]
[...] Develop options to sustainably increase rice-based systems in [to be defined] [...] through research on efficient integration and use of resources and technologies.

Pillars
Brainstorming: Participatory development of competitive, gender-sensitive and environmentally sound value chains, linking with (different) development partners in the public and private sector

Original pillars	New pillars	Notes
1. Multi-stakeholder platforms 2. Environmental systems analysis 3. Intensification and diversification 4. Work in rice development hubs	1. Analysis 2. Development research on integration and validation at the appropriate scale 3. testing the delivery and models (of technology and information), working with partners Cross-cutting aspects: partnership, capacity building, gender, environmental sustainability	WP1 about behavioural change, WP4 about partnerships New pillar #3 to get the model to the ground and beneficiaries

Comments:

• Tim: aquaculture? where is it?
• 'rice-based systems' leaves space for veg, fish, animals, etc
• Julie - same comment as sanginga - need definate quantitative target to measure ourselves
• Alpha ... in Ghana we had 4 common outcomes for all systems; here we need to link across rice-based and m,aize-based systems

Maize/legume pillars: [Said Silim]

Original pillars

New pillars

Diagnosis on systems and household; Screening and assembling solutions Facilitating farmers to test potentially appropriate solutions Gather feedback and refine And parallel activities re: markets, value chains, policies

Diagnosis on systems and household; Integrated appropriate options for for improving productivity of maize-legume-livestock systems for S.I. identified and promoted; Value chain opportunities, institutional and policy innovations for S.I. identified Strategies, tools and methods for scaling up and scaling out S.I. identified and promoted Capacity of major stakeholders and potential beneficiaries enhanced (built)

Comments:

• Tim about nutritional aspects/implications

Maize/legume purpose [Joseph]

goal and purpose are changing
notes to be transcribed

Comment from Stan: diversification a purpose? what's the end point? if you want more sustainable systems, diversification is sometimes a means
Comment from Sanginga: no vision ... where are the metrics? referred back to minister comments: XX% producing only XX% of the GDP. Maybe we need to be doubling yields in order to improve food security... need a clear vision with metrics/outcomes we want to achieve. the yield gap is THE issue.
Dave Harris ... a lot of activities rather than what we need in a purpose/goal.


Goals / purposes / objectives / outcomes: What are the points that need major improvement? [Sieglinde Snapp]

see the PPT for the queries


Purpose:

PROPOSED: Provide pathways out of hunger and poverty for small holder families, particularly for women and children, through sustainably intensified farming systems.

OLD
Provide pathways out of hunger and poverty for small holder families (define this?), particularly for women and children, through sustainably intensified farming systems that sufficiently improve food, nutrition, and income security and conserve or enhance the natural resource base.

Objectives:

PROPOSED:

• Identify demand-driven sustainable intensification options that are socially acceptable, economically feasible, and environmentally sound.
• Combine and adapt these options to address constraints and exploit opportunities.
• Evaluate their effectiveness at multiple scales.
• Catalyze ongoing sustainable farm intensification.

OLD

• Identify, combine, and adapt sustainable intensification farming options at the farm scale
• Evaluate the effects at the field, farm, and landscape scales
• Effectively deliver and scale out research outputs to end users

Outcomes:

PROPOSED
Sustainable increase of whole farm productivity
Improved on- and off-farm natural resource management
Improved connectivity to and utilization of off-farm systems (e.g., markets, inputs suppliers) that support sustainable intensification
Increased nutritional and economic levels of the target populations, especially women and children
Reduced vulnerability and increased resilience of the target population and farming systems to adverse environmental and economic challenges.

OLD

• Sustainable increase of whole farm productivity
• Sufficiently improved on- and off-farm natural resource management
• Increased nutritional and economic levels of the target populations, especially women and children
• Reduced vulnerability and increased resilience of the target population and farming systems to adverse environmental and economic challenges.

How do we capitalize and learn from the three components of this continental project? [elizabeth]
Presentation:

Commonalities Across Regions

• Farming system/livelihood components and constraints may be common across regions – where research is done may not be the only place it is applicable.
• Common monitoring and evaluation framework and research design will facilitate learning.
• Emergent research questions transcend national and regional boundaries.

Emergent Research Questions

• Opportunities to test development hypotheses under a single conceptual framework.
• Need to understand initial conditions, pathways, and outcomes (at least qualitatively).
• For example: How does this project contribute to nutrition outcomes? How (or if?) nutrition outcomes relate to environmental, social, and economic sustainability?

Analyze Pathways to Impact

• Identify “development syndromes” with similar constraints and opportunities.
• Diagnose how interventions yield impacts across intensification and sustainability gradients.
• For example, how (and if) increased productivity raise incomes and improve nutrition/stunting outcomes?
• Need to establish logical links and measure causation between interventions and outcomes and high-level impacts.

Conceptual Framework

• Use a common framework to characterize site agroecologies, household and community socioeconomic characteristics, interventions, impact pathways, and indicators (M&E plan).
• Technical details of interventions, component technologies will vary within and between the three regions.
• Consider opportunities to scale up across intensification/sustainability gradients.

Yearly sharing and learning meetings

• Provide opportunity for to share lessons and expertise across regions and disciplines.
• Include development partners, and focus discussion on integration and development.
• Allow for feedback and adaptive changes to research design.
• Learn from other programs: CRPs, CRSPs, development activities, CAADP activities.